Second Homes and Double Probate Court

3 Jun 2023 · 1 min

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0:48

In this brief video, the speaker begins with a light anecdote about Steamboat Springs, Colorado, then explains a legal pitfall: when a will transfers out‑of‑state real estate, the estate must undergo probate both in the decedent’s home county and in each county where the out‑of‑state property is located. If the owner has multiple out‑of‑state homes, each located in a different jurisdiction, separate probate proceedings are required for each, creating extra time, cost, and complexity. The speaker’s solution is to place all out‑of‑state properties into a revocable trust, allowing a single trust administration to transfer the assets to heirs, thereby avoiding multiple probates. The video ends with a call to subscribe to the speaker’s newsletter for more information.

Chapters

Today I'm in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Here's an interesting fact about Steamboat Springs. 73% of the vacation homes here are owned by out-of-state trusts. Actually, that's not true. I made that up. But that does bring up an interesting issue that you need to know about. If you have a will that conveys out-of-state property to your heirs, that will will not only have to be probated in the county where you live, it will also have to go through a second probate process in the county where the out-of-state property is located. And if you own more than one out-of-state property, each one that's in a different area will have to go through an additional probate process. Here's how you get around that. Get a trust. You can put any out-of-state homes you own in that trust, and all of those homes will be conveyed to your heirs in one trust administration process. Subscribe to my newsletter in my profile link to learn all about it.